Freelance to Studio - A journey from Solo to Team

Live, Work and Create in Lancashire 

Live, Work and Create in Lancashire is a new regular event series by Society1 aimed to celebrate the wonderful community we have around us. Each event will feature a panel discussion around an interesting topic. Our carefully crafted panel will share their thoughts and experiences about the topic inspiring conversation and questions.

There will be opportunity to meet and chat with other attendees ahead of the panel over some refreshments.

Our June conversation topic is:

Freelance to Studio -  A journey from Solo to Team

Our panel will share their experiences of doing just this. Starting out as a single entity and growing into a team.

So many freelancers / small business owners never set out to have a team. They find themselves naturally growing into this situation. Some absolutely love it, some find it a tough change to their working style. Our panel have experiences in this journey that will be relevant to anyone following a similar path.

In our discussions we are going to look at themes like:

• How many people start out as a freelancer with the intention to managing a team?
• Can you still be a creative and manage a team?
• In house teams or working with freelancers? Which template works? What is future of work in this respect.
• How does the mindset change when building a studio / team to working alone?
• Where does the journey lead? What is the end game?

As an audience member you will have the opportunity to ask your questions too.

Meet our panel

We have an amazing panel for this evening:

Andy Walmsley – Founder and Creative Director at Wash Studio, Director at Wash Films, Partner at The Artistry House - Artistry Interiors

Andy never wanted a team at the start and has always had the mindset to work with others as a creative collective. He has though built a hugely successful design studio, Wash Studio, with an inhouse team alongside working with freelancers. After 21 years at Wash he has lots of insights into agency life. Wash one of the North West's most respected creative studios and past winners of Lancashire Creative Business of the year. A studio shaped for an integrated age, ready to develop and build brand strategy. 

Jill Cowgill  - Director at North West Design Collective

Jill is another accidental employer. Setting up an architects firm was never the plan. Her view on working with a team is really interesting and progressive. NWDC is quite unique in its set up and relationship with her team and  SHOP where their office is based. She began her practice with a motivation and desire to be authentic. Their collective seeks to challenge the conventional idea of what an architect is, or should be, and rethink how a practice can operate in our increasingly complex society.

Tom Crawley –  Founder, Marimosa

Tom’s experience is a fantastic example of how to build a team. After 25 years in the software development game, Tom has seen it all. Starting out as a Delphi developer in the late 90s, Tom moved quickly through various technologies and businesses until he decided to give up the permanent game for the contractor life. Forming Marimosa in 2011 as a vehicle for contract work, Tom ended up building the business into a B2B software agency with a team of developers, marketing and admin. Marimosa would go on to build software across a range of industries from construction through logistics and customs to gaming! Tom has covered a lot of ground. Having sold the assets of Marimosa in 2023 he has completed the full circle. Known for his questionable taste in shirts, love for ridiculously spicy food and expensive guitars, Tom loves to talk about the lessons he has learned over the years in his journey to today.

Getting there:

Society1 is located on Cross Street, just off Winckley Square (PR1 3LT). It is easily accessible by bus and train.